SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- At the start of the season, the San
Antonio Spurs were the defending NBA champions and the Orlando
Magic were a rag-tag team. Nearly halfway into the season, both
finally looked the part.

The Spurs had a 24-0 first-quarter run and led by as many as 48
points as they stormed to a 127-92 victory over the Magic, who
have lost seven of their last eight games.

Tim Duncan scored 22 points and Malik Rose added 19 for San
Antonio, which led 41-16 after one quarter, 75-42 at halftime
and 104-61 after three quarters en route to its biggest win of
the season.

The Spurs (23-12) are one loss away from matching last season's
total but established season highs for points in the first
quarter, first half and game, field goals (49) and steals (15).
They shot 58 percent (49-of-84) from the field and had no one
play more than 27 minutes.

"A lot of our games have been close," said Spurs center David
Robinson, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds. "Our record could
be 27-6 and just as well we could have lost some of those games.

"We were trying to make a statement to ourselves tonight. We
are trying to prove to ourselves that we can win."

Rookie Corey Maggette scored 17 points for the Magic, who
trailed 27-4 midway through the first quarter and never
recovered as they remained winless in San Antonio since April 3,
1992, a skid of eight games.

Orlando has been the NBA's most surprising team. Constructing a
roster of rookies and players in the final year of their
contracts with an eye on the 2000 free agent market, the Magic
(16-18) have been extremely competitive, playing hard every game
and hovering around .500.

"This was the worst of the year," Magic coach Doc Rivers said.
"We are an energy team and tonight we had no energy. You could
see it early on in this one, at the two-minute mark. Maybe some
teams can play with little energy and still play well but not
us. Our talent is our energy and without it we are in trouble."

Orlando led 4-3 before San Antonio rattled off 24 consecutive
points. Jaren Jackson scored all eight of his points and Avery
Johnson added six in the burst, which made it 27-4 with 5:04
left in the first quarter.

The Spurs shot 71 percent (15-of-21) as they raced to a 41-16
lead after one period. Nine different players scored as Duncan
finally got the help he has been needing.

"We came out hot. I don't know what happened," Rose said. "We
shot 70 percent in the first quarter."

"Tim has been playing great, but one guy can't carry the team,"
Robinson said. "He needs help. It was great in the beginning.
We were shooting well."

Meanwhile, Orlando shot just 29 percent (6-of-21) as it was
repeatedly beaten for transition baskets.

"They ran the ball at us tonight and came prepared to play our
style of basketball," Magic guard Darrell Armstrong said.

It was no different in the second quarter, when the Spurs had
bursts of 8-0, 6-0 and 5-0 and exploded to a 75-42 halftime
advantage. Duncan scored 14 points and Rose added 10 in the
first half.

In the third quarter, Steve Kerr hit a jumper with 5:22 to go,
giving the Spurs a 94-50 lead and enough points to win. A
17-footer by Chucky Brown gave San Antonio its largest lead at
100-52 with 3:39 left.

Johnson scored 12 points and Antonio Daniels added 10 for the
Spurs, who held a 48-30 rebounding advantage and forced 23
turnovers.